Jokers Wild
by Ellcrys
Summary: Inside the Infinite Castle, Emishi considered Shido to be like a wild beast himself - and Shido's new life with Madoka therefore comes as quite a disturbing shock. (As does the idea that someone is writing somewhat serious Emishi fic, right?) Complete!
1. Chapter 1

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**Disclaimer:** Characters do not belong to me, no matter how much I look like Emishi when wearing stupid pink sunglasses. They are used without permission, but with much respect for the creators of Get Backers. (Far more than the respect I have for Emishi, because, you know, he's Emishi.)

**Warning:** This fic has a heterosexual pairing featured prominently - gasp! But there are also mentions of Kazuki/Jubei and implied Ban/Ginji, because this is Get Backers, after all.

**Notes:** An Emishi fic that isn't entirely comedy? And multi-chapter? ...Yeah, scary. Hit me one night out of nowhere, too. Amusingly enough, almost entirely written before I saw episode 40. Good ol' "passionate male friendship" - of course Emishi would notice Shido's current state before Ban and Ginji did.  
Takes place shortly after the MakubeX story, with spoilers galore, but sometime before the Venus de Milo arc. Mostly using fansub translations for various things like Mugenjou, but keeping some honorifics, despite my distaste for random Japanese words in English fics, just because I like them when Ginji or Emishi use them oddly.

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**Jokers Wild**

"Emi... Emishi!" Shido's casual greeting turned into an exclamation of shock as he opened the door further and fully took in the sight of his friend's form, hunched over before him on the steps leading into Madoka's mansion, illuminated eerily by the light on the porch. 

"Shido..." Despite the dark red stain seeping through his shirt beneath his fingers, clutched to his stomach, Emishi looked up and managed a weak grin. "I made it... All this way, and I made it... Th... they found us... The Volts... Volts are..." 

He swayed, and almost fell, but Shido grabbed hold of his arms, holding him upright. "What happened, Emishi?" he prompted firmly. "Who did this to you?" 

Emishi coughed weakly, and a drop of red trickled from the corner of his mouth. "When I left... MakubeX... he asked me to give you..." 

"Emishi!" Shido caught him as he sagged forward, clutching a parcel. 

The light, hesitant footfalls behind him were easy to identify, especially with the lighter padding of Mozart alongside them, and for once Shido was grateful that Madoka was blind - she didn't need to witness a sight like this. "Call an ambulance," he urged her quickly, his eyes roaming over Emishi's frame, desperately searching for some sign of what exactly had injured him. "Bring Ginji, tell him-" 

"An... ambulance?" Her voice held a note of alarm, but sounded confused. "Shido - what's going on?" 

"Emishi - he's bleeding badly, and-" 

"...He is?" He glanced over his shoulder at her quiet sound of surprise, and found her looking puzzled. "I don't smell blood..." Mozart's faint whine affirmed Madoka's assessment, to Shido's knowledgeable ears. 

Shido's head snapped back around to give a suspicious look to Emishi, limp in his arms. The man's eyes were still closed, but that ghastly, bloodstained grin of his had grown wider. "Of course she doesn't..." Emishi murmured weakly. "Because..." 

Suddenly he straightened and laughed, spitting out a small, broken capsule. "Because it's all stage makeup! Oh, Shido-kun - how you could believe anything could happen to the Volts while I was protecting them is beyond me!" 

Shido's mouth had fallen open in disbelief, and now he was torn between relief that his friend was all right, and the urge to shake him to death for such a stupid, thoughtless prank. "Emishi..." he growled dangerously. "This is supposed to be a special night!" 

"And a special night deserves a special trick," the Joker said cheerfully as he wiped the fake blood from his mouth and looked past Shido to the woman standing behind him, who had a rather bemused expression. "Apologies if I offended, miss, but - oh my..." Pushing his way past Shido, he looked over the young woman, dressed all in red silk, with the finely groomed guide dog by her side. "You must be Madoka-han, because you look every bit as lovely as Shido-kun has told me, and then some. ...May I touch your hair?" 

Madoka giggled as Emishi bent down to pet Mozart. "So soft..." he crooned. "I'm jealous, Shido-kun..." 

Mozart barked in startled amusement, and Shido growled again. "Emishi... don't insult your hostess." 

"I'm not offended, Shido," Madoka told him with a smile. "Your friend seems very funny..." 

"Ahh - beautiful, a sense of humor, and not so easily tricked as Shido-kun..." Emishi took Madoka's hand lightly, and dropped to one knee. "Madoka-han, will you marry me? I'm sorry to be so flighty, dear one," he added, lowering his head to address Mozart conspiratorially, "but can you blame me?" 

Evidently, Madoka could hear Shido's teeth grinding, because she looked up at him with amusement. "Don't worry, Shido - he's done no harm." 

"Oh, Shido is just upset because he couldn't bear the thought of losing me! It may take him all night to recover from the shock of my near-death," Emishi told her brightly, getting to his feet again. "Now, is there a place I can change into more suitable clothes? I brought them along with me - it's a ways from the Infinite Castle to this place, and I didn't want my good clothes to get dirty on the way..." 

"Yes, there's a room right down that way," Madoka assured him, nodding towards a hallway. "Shido, will you show him the way? I'll see to our other guests... It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Emishi Haruki - Shido's spoken of you often." 

"He has, hmmm...?" Emishi mused in a tone that Shido wasn't at all sure he liked. "At any rate, I'm pleased to finally meet you as well, Madoka-han. Thank you very much for inviting me into your beautiful home." 

"Think nothing of it - it's Shido's home now as well," she told him with a smile, "and his friends are my friends, whether they're man or beast. It's my honor to have one of his best dining with us tonight. If you'll excuse me..." 

"She means your lion, doesn't she?" Emishi whispered to Shido with a grin, as the two of them headed down the hall Madoka had indicated. When Shido's hard expression didn't change, Emishi's face fell a bit too. "Oh, come on now, Shido - I'm only joking..." 

"A dinner party is not quite the setting for your stupid jokes," Shido muttered coldly. "Really, saying the Volts had been wiped out... and I think you got your stage blood on my shirt." 

"It's water-based - it'll come right out," Emishi assured him. 

"Hmph." Shido frowned. "And... MakubeX didn't ask you to bring me anything...? What's in the package?" 

"Only his best regards. The package is my good clothes." After a moment, he grinned again, and slung his arm around Shido's shoulder casually. "And I see you haven't punished me for any of this. Either love has made you go soft, Beastmaster, or you really are just relieved that I'm alive and well." 

Shido didn't answer - either option was somewhat degrading. To be honest, he thought to himself that perhaps it was a little of both. 

-----------

Emishi got to laugh a bit more about his prank over dinner, since at least one of the other guests found it funny. "Really, monkey-trainer," Ban chuckled over the clinking of silver and china and the soft glow of candlelight, "how could you be taken in by stage blood? They've never come up with a way to make it feel or smell right, even if it looks right. Do you have your animals do all the serious fighting for you, that you can't identify a fake?" 

"Shido's seen plenty of blood - I can vouch for that," Ginji piped up before Shido could growl a response. Despite the delicious dinner, which ordinarily would have left the former Thunder Emperor in pure bliss, his eyes held a touch of sadness at the reminder of unpleasant days. "I was there too..." 

"And me!" Emishi had to speak up in Shido's defense as well. "Shido-kun shed almost as much blood as my whip has for the Volts - though he did it with considerably less humor." 

"I'm not so sure of that, since your jokes aren't funny," Shido muttered into his drink. 

"Ohh, Shido-kun," Emishi teased him. "Just because you have no sense of humor..." 

On the other side of Shido, Madoka smiled, and reached up to touch Shido's shoulder reassuringly. Odd, Emishi supposed, when Shido was the strong one and she only small and frail and blind. Despite her lack of sight, she found and touched him with a certainty that suggested an intimate knowledge of him; without the ability to look, she knew just how tall he was, just how far away he sat, just where his shoulder fell. "Shido has a sense of humor - he's showed it to me often enough,"she stated fondly. "His humor is just more... understated and quiet." 

Shido shifted and looked down at his plate, as if self-conscious. Emishi couldn't help but notice, however, the peace that entered his eyes at Madoka's touch. 

Behind the sunglasses he wore - even with the semi-formal attire, it was one of his vices, and everyone there except possibly the blind hostess was tolerant of his quirks - his own eyes went hard. 

The subject changed, from Emishi's pranking to current events and happenings in the world of fine arts, and Emishi was lost. It was exactly the sort of conversation one might expect at a dinner party hosted by a fine, talented lady like Madoka, and not at all a conversation that one who had lived so long within the self-contained haze of the Infinite Castle could follow. In fact, Ban was the only one who could seemingly keep up, though Ginji made the effort - and usually got smacked by Ban for saying something apparently either ignorant or irreverent, though Emishi wouldn't have known the difference. (If he had, he supposed he'd have added a few more such comments to the discussion just for kicks; serious conversations were just not fun at all.) 

Shido as well remained mostly quiet, though now and then he spoke up to offer an opinion, and it seemed to please Madoka. She was training him well, Emishi thought, to be a partner that would be acceptable in her world, just like that guide dog of hers. It left a bad taste in his mouth that the meal could not entirely banish - the problem with a trained dog, of course, was that the human was always considered to be in charge. Though still fondness of a sort, it was not at all the even-handed friendship that Shido would offer an animal - or that Emishi had offered Shido, who was practically an animal of his own. 

As the evening wore on, the drinks flowed, and everyone gradually grew more accustomed to each other, the conversation became more casual again - thank goodness - and Emishi began filling the others in on what had happened in the Infinite Castle since they'd last been there. "Volts membership has been growing - booming, really," he told them proudly. "The young people have been coming to MakubeX one after another, day after day, and he tells them what to expect. And you know, despite that, most of them stick around," he added with a grin. "I'd like to say it's MakubeX's charm winning them over, or the hope he gives them - but from listening to some of them talk, I think half the time it's the food he gives them... and with the girls, it's his eyes and his smile that hold their interest." 

"His smile..." Ginji had a dreamy, thoughtful smile of his own as he pondered the idea. "I think more than anything else, I like hearing that MakubeX smiles again now. When we saw him, he seemed so unhappy, until the very end... not like when I knew him before. He had this bright smile back then, that showed in his eyes. And they both shone..." His musing was cut off in a sudden yelp of pain. "Ban-chan, what was that for?" 

"Are you a teenage girl too?" his partner asked, even as he casually dropped an arm around Ginji's shoulders. "So, Emishi - how's the resistance going? Any big developments?" 

Emishi obliged and filled them in - telling them how he and Jubei had found some strange passageways which might lead somewhere promising, and how MakubeX and Sakura had been searching for areas where the illusionary powers of the Infinite Castle were weaker. But behind the chattering, he continued to be distracted by his companions, and how comfortable they seemed beside each other. Even if the conversation was something only one half of each pair could relate to at any given time, as their worlds were so different, the looks in their eyes reflected harmony that had nothing to do with social status, and everything to do with the soul. It was the same sort of harmony that had been so unique in Kazuki and Jubei in the days when the Thunder Emperor ruled the Infinite Castle's lower areas, and there was little peace or comfort to be found. It had vanished from Jubei's eyes when Kazuki had chosen to leave, and without even that small hope remaining, the Infinite Castle had seemed all that much more cold and unwelcoming in the days after Ginji departed. 

Although his place at Madoka's long table had been set just beside Shido, in a way Emishi thought he might as well have been placed at one of the far ends. 

-----------

Later that evening found Emishi, Shido, and Madoka sitting in the lush grass beneath a tree, out on the grounds of Madoka's mansion. The Get Backers duo had left already, Ban having stated that Ginji had drunk too much of Madoka's wine and was starting to get sillier than usual - though anyone paying attention would have noticed that Ban had gotten just a bit louder than usual himself, and Emishi wouldn't have minded a little silliness. Still, it wasn't bad to lie back on the ground in the cool night air, with a cat beneath his hand and a rabbit perched on his chest. The cat remembered him, having been one of Shido's longtime companions, but the rabbit was a new friend, and Emishi rather liked both. 

Shido was more sensibly sitting up, with his arm around Madoka, who rested her head on his shoulder. Emishi just stared up at the stars between the rabbit's ears; if he didn't look in Shido's direction and see the woman there, it felt a lot like old times. Except softer, he had to admit. And without the expectation of someone ruining it by attacking at any moment. ...Well, without as much expectation - Emishi did still spend the majority of his time in the Infinite Castle, after all. But here, it seemed far more peaceful than it ever had been when he and Shido would sit together, sometimes with Kazuki and Jubei, up in the rafters of some half-finished skyscraper. Here, the paranoia that came from a life lived through battle and power struggles was just a tiny nagging thought in the back of Emishi's mind, like the stiff bundle of his whip in the small of his back, where he kept it tucked away. 

Shido seemed to feel the same when he finally spoke, his voice low and quiet. "I'm glad you could make it, Emishi. It's a long way from the Infinite Castle." 

Emishi nodded. "Yeah... but not a bad trip." Shido knew just how far away it was - worlds and worlds away - but Emishi didn't want to talk about that now. Not with Madoka there. As much as he liked to perform, to show off and gather people's attention, there were some thoughts that only deserved sharing with certain others who knew. 

"So now that you know the way," Shido inquired, "do you suppose you'll come out more often?" 

"Oh, I don't know..." Emishi mumbled casually, plucking a bit of clover and offering it to the rabbit on his chest, who sniffed and accepted. "It's nice to think about, but the Volts need me... all those new kids, you know?" Besides, Emishi thought to himself, the way out of the Infinite Castle was a lot easier to find when there was a reason. There were so many reasons not to leave that he was rather sure he didn't actually know the way at all. 

"Yes... I suppose you're right." There was a rustle in the grass as Shido shifted. "...Emishi..." 

Emishi knew that tone of voice, and he quickly grinned up at Shido, stroking the cat and the rabbit gently. "Don't worry, Shido-kun - I'll come and visit if you like. After all, I can't leave my friends Kitty-kun and Bunny-sama here." 

Shido smiled slightly at the names he used. "They'd like that." 

"Come and visit any time you like, Emishi," Madoka offered. "We have the room - and as I said before, all of Shido's friends are welcome here." 

"Thank you for the gracious offer, Madoka-han," Emishi replied with a knowing smile, "though I wonder if you know just what you're getting yourself into..." 

She laughed quietly, and Shido nodded. "It's a dangerous offer, Madoka, where the Joker of Fresh Blood is involved. More so than lions or bears." 

"If all the blood he spills here is water-soluble and comes in small capsules, it's not so dangerous," she reasoned, and Emishi had to smile. The Beastmaster had found quite a mate - if circumstances had been different, Emishi might have liked her a great deal himself. 

But as they said their goodbyes, Emishi wished she would go away, just for a little while. There were many things he would have discussed with Shido, had they been alone, but the girl was always there - they had no privacy whatsoever, with her hanging onto his arm as if he was her new favored guide dog. Might as well put a harness on him, Emishi thought as he began the trek back to the Infinite Castle, despite her worries about him travelling alone at night. And how naive was that, to worry about travelling through the countryside at night, when the place he was travelling to was the Infinite Castle? 

The thing that really got him, he supposed as he watched the cars go by despite his outstretched thumb, was the way Shido seemed to like the idea of being harnessed, though he'd never have put some such device on any of his animal friends. 

Emishi didn't get home until nearly dawn, since no cars stopped to pick him up. Many, to his annoyance, actually sped up as they neared him. It wasn't until the first light started to peek through the skeletal tops of the skyscrapers before him that it occurred to him that maybe he shouldn't have changed back into his regular shirt without washing the fake bloodstains out first. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next afternoon found Emishi with Jubei and Sakura, who were trying to comfort some children whose block had been wiped out that very morning. There had been seven friends who lived in the building that had been targetted, and now only four remained. Kids in the Infinite Castle grew up too fast - even though now, with the remaining children huddled together and crying, they looked their age. 

Jubei stood by silently as Sakura knelt before them, wiping the tears from a little girl's eye with the end of her scarf. "Can you tell us what they looked like?" she asked. "Were they all wearing something - a hat, a jacket, a bandanna...?" 

The little girl shook her head, still sobbing. "They... they were big..." 

"And scary," the boy next to her sniffled. "They looked really scary..." 

That was all the information they'd been able to gather so far on the attackers - they were big and scary - and Sakura turned to her brother with a helpless sigh. She paused when she saw that his face was turned away; it had happened so recently, they still forgot sometimes that Jubei was blind. 

Seeing the look on her face as she was abruptly reminded, and the looks on the faces of the children standing before the two Kakei siblings, Emishi decided to step in. "Hey, hey - they looked scary, you say?" he repeated curiously, squatting down in front of the children. "Did they look like... this?" 

The oldest boy, who couldn't have been more than ten, frowned sullenly as Emishi turned his eyelids inside out, rolled his eyes back into his head and sucked his cheeks in. "No... that's stupid." 

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Emishi agreed. "I bet they looked like... this!" 

He crossed his eyes, drawing his mouth wide with his thumbs and sticking his tongue out, and the younger boy and girl giggled, despite their sniffling. "No, not like that," the younger boy told him, and even the older boy's scowl seemed to be warring with a slight smile. 

"Hmm, hmmm..." Emishi pondered, rising to his feet and pacing slightly, pretending to adjust his glasses to cover the movement of him slipping something into his mouth from his pocket. He scratched his head, thinking, and loosening his hair tie in the process. "Ah - I know!" he said brightly. "They looked like... thith!" 

All four of the children giggled this time, when Emishi turned to them suddenly with his hair hanging in his face and gigantic fake beaver teeth. "No, no!" the younger boy and girl told him. "Not like that!" 

"Theriouthly?" Emishi lisped behind the fake oversized incisors. "I'm lotht, then..." 

"They looked more like... they had armbands," the oldest boy began to explain. "And they had guns..." 

"Uh huh...?" Emishi prompted, kneeling down to listen, still wearing his unusual accessories. 

Jubei sat down as well, and the little girl carefully sat down in his lap as her older friend began to describe the attack. The littler boy did likewise after a moment, sniffling only a little now. Sakura shot Emishi a look of bemused gratitude, and Emishi grinned back behind his fake teeth before turning back to listen to the boy's tale with interest. "I thee... quite a thtory..." 

It was yet another fledgling gang, one of dozens that wanted to carve out some part of Lower Town for themselves. Emishi had related once, but now that he'd seen more of life and of the world, it struck him as strange that anyone would want to claim this place as their own. It wasn't much to look at. But in here, people took whatever they could get, and held on as tight as they could, until it crumbled in their hands. It was better than having nothing to hold on to. 

There weren't many options for people without some unique talent in the Infinite Castle, when it came to careers. You could protect your friends (which sadly enough was a full-time job), or you could join a gang, and those who couldn't stand to do either usually wound up getting killed or actually committing suicide because they had nothing left that mattered. Either you had suspicious eyes, or you had sad eyes, and the sad eyes made you an easy target for the people with suspicious eyes. 

Emishi didn't like letting people walk around with either if he could help it - it was his unique talent. The way the children laughed as he put his silly joke glasses on the little girl, all their eyes becoming less sad, was a victory more fulfilling than any he'd ever won by using his whip. 

Thinking about it later, as he sat back and listened to Sakura and Jubei report the new gang and its marked territory to MakubeX, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic for a battle that had gone on for years without a clear victory. He thought about walking to Madoka's mansion again, but decided against it - that battle had been over before he'd ever gotten there. There were plenty of battles in Lower Town that had only just begun, even if they somehow didn't feel as important. 

-----------

The allure of the battlefield still tugged at Emishi, however, and a few weeks later he gave in. Standing in front of Madoka's mansion, he gaped at the sight he saw. 

Shido was mowing the lawn. 

Shido didn't mow lawns, Emishi's brain protested. Shido didn't even like mown lawns. Shido was a man of overgrown fields and untamed brush and forests untouched by human hands - not perfectly groomed, evenly green lawns! 

"Hey! Shido!" he called, but Shido couldn't hear him above the noise of the lawn mower. He waved his arms madly, jumped up and down, but as Shido was headed in the other direction, it did no good. 

Well, Madoka had said he was welcome any time, Emishi supposed, and with a sigh, he finally just walked up closer to the house. Shido still hadn't noticed he was there, with his back turned and the noise of the motor covering Emishi's approach, and Emishi's cheer returned as he followed along just behind Shido, stepping when he stepped to avoid even the slightest sound. 

The mower reached the edge of the yard, and Shido turned - only to find Emishi standing right behind him. "Surpriiiise, Shido-kun!" Emishi declared cheerfully as the Beastmaster actually jumped. 

"Emishi!" Shido scowled at him slightly, but turned the mower off. "What are you doing sneaking around here?" 

"Stalking you, of course." Emishi grinned. "I just thought I'd come see how you were doing. But, er, Shido-kun," he added, frowning slightly in confusion, "what are you doing?" 

Shido shrugged. "I'm mowing the lawn." 

"Well, yes, I kind of figured that out," Emishi stated impatiently. "What I mean is... _why_ are you mowing the lawn?" 

Perhaps it was his imagination, but Shido seemed to color slightly. "It saves Madoka from having to hire someone else to do it. And she's letting me live here, so-" 

"No, no, that's not it!" Emishi insisted. "I thought you liked long grass! I know your friends do... the rabbits and mice can hide in it, the cats can stalk through it, all swishy-like..." 

"Eh, Madoka moves in a different circle than you or I," Shido tried to explain, leaning on the handlebar of the mower and rubbing the sweat from the back of his neck. "In a neighborhood like this, if you don't mow the lawns, it's considered an insult to those who own property next to yours - it makes them look bad if the place next door is overgrown and shaggy." 

Emishi looked down at the grass that had yet to be cut - it was no longer than four centimeters at best, and an unnaturally even four centimeters at that. "This... is overgrown and shaggy?" 

"By their standards." Shido turned back to the lawn mower, lowering his voice, and Emishi could hear the faint sound of a violin playing scales through one of the open windows. "I don't like it either. But it has to be done, and I should get back to doing it." 

"Oh..." Emishi deflated somewhat. "But I came all this way to see you..." 

"Sorry." Shido did look somewhat regretful, beneath his usual unfathomable expression. "I'll probably be done in about an hour and a half, if you want to wait around. My friends are all out in back - Madoka lets me keep a part of the yard there long for them, with none of those chemicals to make it greener." 

"Ah... how nice of her..." Emishi fidgeted uneasily - this was not the sort of world the Shido he knew could belong in, even if a little pocket of his world existed within it. His world should be wide, vast, dangerous - it should have no rules governing its boundaries. It wasn't his decision, though, and so he nodded. "I'll be out back, then..." Something occurred to him, and he looked puzzled. "Shido-kun - it doesn't look like you have that much left. Will it really take an hour and a half?" 

"Not to mow the lawn," he replied. "But when I'm done with that, I need to clip the bushes." 

Emishi tried not to let it show on his face that his brain had just completely shut down. 

Despite the soothing sounds of the violin through the window, he was still twitching a minute later, when he'd rounded the corner of the house, and spotted several familiar furry faces lying in the shade, partially buried in the longer grass. "Kitty-kun!" he exclaimed, as one of the cats saw him and trotted towards him, jumping into his lap as he knelt. He stroked the cat's belly for a moment, pleased at the way he purred, then picked him up to approach the rest of the animals. "And here's Bunny-samaaaa!" The rabbit's ears perked up, but she answered with a massive yawn. "Oh, fine - be that way, your royal highness," Emishi teased, petting her on the nose. At least _they_ would never change. 

A quiet giggle came from behind him, and he looked back towards the house, to find Madoka at a window. Her blank eyes were looking upwards, but she addressed him anyhow. "Emishi-san, is it?" 

"Yes - that's me," Emishi replied with a grin and a wave that he was aware was pointless. "I hope I didn't interrupt your practicing, Madoka-han?" 

"No, I was just curious, because I heard footsteps outside," she assured him. "There are not many people that Shido lets into my yard who don't just come up to the house." 

She made it sound as if Shido was her guard dog, Emishi thought, and he indulged in a frown, since she couldn't see it anyhow. "Ah, well, I'd have come to greet you, but Bunny-sama required my attendance," he said, looking back down to the rabbit. "And you know how she is... very demanding mistress..." 

Madoka giggled again. "I suppose so... Anyhow, you're free to come in and wait for Shido to finish, if you like - and if you'd like to stay for dinner a bit later, I can inform the cook..." 

"Oh, er..." Emishi was torn. Why did she have to be so nice? He couldn't be angry about losing Shido to her world when she was offering him food. "Well, I can hardly object to the idea," he admitted. "Thank you, Madoka-han!" 

"You're welcome," she replied, and her smile seemed genuinely happy. "Since you're such a good friend of Shido's, I'd like to get to know you better." 

"Ah ha ha..." Emishi laughed sheepishly, scratching his head. "From such a pretty girl, I can't help but be flattered!" 

Once she had gone from the window and the sound of her violin floated through the air once more, his expression turned slightly sour. "Like to get to know Shido's friends better," he muttered, dragging a bit of string through the grass for a handful of cats to pounce upon. "Then why does she make him hide them away in the back yard?" 

The rabbit twitched her nose at him, chewing contentedly. "Oh, you're no help," he chastised her. 

-----------

Late that night, Emishi sat on the rusted fire escape of a run-down shell of a building, staring out into darkness mottled by the dim and dingy lights of those who lived on the streets below. Madoka's cook was wonderful, and her company had been pleasant. Shido was happy. Emishi was happy that Shido was happy. But the second the door closed behind him, cutting off the bright artificial light that shone from within, the happiness seemed to vanish from him. 

It wasn't that the trip back was bad. It wasn't that he didn't feel more comfortable once he was back in more familiar surroundings. But Shido, he thought as he gazed out over Lower Town, had once called this place home as well. Just like a dog who had given up a life of freedom and chasing prey and howling at the moon with friends, in exchange for warmth and light and pats on the head. 

Which was nice, admittedly. But not one of Shido's usual companions was inside, except for Mozart - and that dog was so unlike the stray canines of Lower Town in nature that he might as well have just been a small, furry person. Did the proud lion mind being left in the back yard? Did Kitty-kun ever meow at the back door, asking to be let in? Did Bunny-sama ever get hungry? 

Emishi supposed that Shido wouldn't let them be unhappy. After all, his animals were his soulmates - or so he'd always claimed. But sometimes people grew apart - they didn't have anything in common anymore. And to Emishi's eye, Shido seemed to be turning more and more into Mozart, as opposed to the proud leader of a strong pack, each time they saw each other. 

Emishi had run with that pack, not minding at all that his humanity was just another species to Shido. And with the pack leader gone... 

"Emishi." 

The soft-spoken voice surprised him. "MakubeX-kun...?" he uttered curiously, turning to look at the serious-faced boy. "Do you need me to do something?" 

MakubeX shook his head, and sat down next to Emishi, dangling his feet through the bars of the fire escape. "Not at all - we noticed you've been sulking. Sakura's worried." 

Oh, for heaven's sake - if MakubeX of all people was checking up on him for sulking, he really needed to pull himself together, Emishi supposed with a laugh. "Oh, it's nothing. No need to worry about it - there's just a few things I've had on my mind. Now," he stated decisively, "if there's anything you need me to do, just-" 

"No, Emishi." MakubeX shook his head again. "It's about Shido, isn't it? You always seem so distant when you come back from visiting him." 

Well, the kid always was good at putting two and two together, thought Emishi. "Perhaps... but nothing important," he assured MakubeX. "None of my business, and nothing you need to worry about, when you're busy running Volts. Thank you for your concern, though..." 

"But really," MakubeX insisted. "The happiness and wellbeing of my friends is important." He folded his hands in his lap. "If you want to talk, Emishi, I'm willing to listen." He gave Emishi a small smile. "Provided you talk about more than your jokes." 

Emishi paused. He looked so earnest, so open and inviting, that Emishi found he was unable to stop himself. Before he knew it, he was on his feet, pacing the length of the fire escape, gesturing wildly as he poured out all he'd been thinking since that first dinner party at Madoka's. How Shido didn't talk about the same things she did, so he just listened; how he was doing yardwork for her; how she'd put his animals in the back yard; how she talked about him like he was a pet, no different than Mozart. 

"And she keeps that dog on a harness. A _harness_!" Emishi ranted, turning back to MakubeX, who still sat calm and patient, head tilted slightly to one side as he listened. "Shido doesn't like animals being harnessed! But now, now... he's on a leash himself. And he doesn't seem to care - maybe he doesn't even know! And... and I don't like seeing him like this," Emishi finished. "Like a tamed animal..." 

"Hmm..." MakubeX considered for a moment as Emishi sat down again, leaning his forearms against the railing and staring down at the cluttered streets. "As for Mozart being harnessed, I think it should be pointed out that he wears the harness so that he can help Madoka-san to get by with her disability." 

"Because he was trained to do just that from birth," Emishi muttered. 

"But does Mozart seem unhappy to serve her?" 

Emishi hesitated, then sighed moodily, seeing what MakubeX was getting at. "No... But Shido is different. Why would he willingly put his neck through someone's leash?" 

"Perhaps it's not a leash, exactly," MakubeX suggested. "Perhaps it's more like a yoke - the kind that binds two oxen together to pull a plow or a cart, so that the strength of both can be utilized together. And the strength of two, working together, is stronger than the strength of either one alone - or sometimes, the combined strength that they possess independantly." 

Emishi quieted, listening as MakubeX went on. "Sometimes it's difficult, with two oxen that have never been yoked. One will try to go faster, the other will lag behind... or one will try to turn one way, while the other tries to turn aside to the other. But once they have learned to work together, they can go further and faster than they could otherwise." 

Emishi could see the point in his illustration, but one detail didn't seem to work out. "But with a pair of yoked oxen, there is a driver telling them which way to go, and what speed," he pointed out. 

MakubeX smiled to himself. "In the Old Testament, in the book of I Samuel, there is a story about the Philistines stealing the Ark of God from Israel. Plagues came upon them when they'd taken it back to their own territory, and they wondered if God was punishing them. Their wise men suggested that to find out if the plagues had come by God's hand or by chance, they should take two milk cows that had never been yoked, and attach them to a cart with the Ark placed upon it. As soon as the cart was hitched, the two began to move up the road together, neither pushing ahead or turning aside, and returned the Ark to the Israelites. No one was driving them, aside from God himself." 

Emishi's eyes widened. "So, Shido and Madoka... the gods of Babylon City are-" 

"No, Emishi," MakubeX cut him off, slightly amused. "In this case, I only meant God. Or fate - whichever you choose to believe in, in your serious moments." 

"Oh..." That was something of a relief, but didn't actually make Emishi feel that much better about things. "You think they're blessed, eh...?" 

"As is anyone who finds a love so deep that they will put their neck through a yoke, just to be beside their beloved." Gazing absently out at the city, MakubeX turned to Emishi in surprise as he heard a sniffle. "Emishi? What's wrong?" 

"Nothing," Emishi told him, wiping his eyes dramatically. "It's just... so beautiful...!" 

MakubeX smiled, and there was another victory for Emishi Haruki. 

Even if, he admitted to himself after MakubeX had gone, after the initial romance of the idea had worn off, it didn't help his situation that much at all. There was more to it than Madoka and Shido and any sort of balance of power between the two of them, but Emishi hadn't talked about the rest. Not that MakubeX wouldn't have understood, but he'd talked seriously enough for one day. 

MakubeX had advised him to talk to Shido about it, if he was troubled over his relationship with Madoka. Maybe he would, Emishi thought as he rose and looked off towards the outside world. But not just yet - as an aspiring comedian, he knew that timing was everything. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Timing, in addition to being one of the most important elements of presentation, was always the most difficult. It was what turned something merely amusing into something utterly hilarious. 

There was a point, though, with some jokes, where waiting for just the right moment meant waiting too long, and killing it. Emishi routinely wondered, each time he went to Madoka's place, if he'd missed that elusive moment. Or maybe it would never come. Or maybe this wasn't like a joke at all. 

Sometimes, if you waited too long, some rude person in the audience would shout out the punch line for you. And well, Shido had never been much for what counted as manners among humans. Not that Emishi expected anything out of the ordinary at all when one night, after a peaceful dinner with the two of them, Shido invited Emishi to take a walk with him around the grounds. 

-----------

"Something wrong?" Emishi asked, puzzled, as they walked through the darkness to the trees that hedged in the back of Madoka's property. "You don't think anyone's lurking around out here, do you? Or," he suggested with a grin, "are you just planning to do a little more yardwork in the dark, where no one can see if you mess it up?" 

"What is it, Emishi?" Shido's sudden question, delivered in his usual stern manner, startled Emishi. "I know you better than you think - something's had you on edge every time you've come over here, and it's been getting worse. You're like a mouse being backed into a corner." 

Emishi stared for a moment before he managed to squeak out a reply, which he supposed didn't help Shido's comparison. "I... can't tell you that - not now!" he protested. "The time isn't right - no dramatic build! No sense of dire urgency!" 

"I don't care." Shido's voice was as flat as his expression. "That look on your face says something's wrong. Is it something with the Volts? MakubeX...?" 

"No, no, it's not that!" Emishi snapped, throwing up his hands. "I'm a performer, and you ask me to just come out and tell you something? Geez, Shido - you have no flair for the dramatic." 

"Emishi..." 

He grimaced, realizing it was inevitable. "Fine, fine... it's not really the stuff of legends anyhow," he muttered. "Or even the silver screen..." 

"You're stalling," Shido stated, halting beneath a tree and crossing his arms across his chest. "I won't demand answers, but I'd just as soon have one this year, if you're willing to supply it at all." 

Emishi hesitated. In a way, this was Shido being kind and friendly, despite the slightly grim look he was shooting over his folded arms; it was the equivalent of someone a little softer saying something like _You don't have to tell me, but I'm willing to listen._ "...We know each other too well," he observed aloud. 

Shido nodded. "You followed me around for a long time." There was no belittling in the statement - it was just how things had been, and they both knew it. "Even if we've been apart for a while..." 

He stopped there, comprehension glinting in his eyes. "It's me, isn't it?" 

For once, Emishi was sort of relieved that someone had stolen a line he planned to use. "Well... not _just_ you..." he mumbled, "but... yeah." 

Shido nodded again. "I thought so. I should have known, back when I left the Infinite Castle, that you'd be hurt and angry." He smirked wryly. "After all, we were all the same way when Ginji left to be with that snake guy." 

Emishi chuckled out of nervousness rather than humor. "Now that it's been explained, do you still hate him?" 

"Yes," Shido said without hesitation. "But for different reasons." 

There was the hint of a smile as he looked over at Emishi. In a way, it tore him up, seeing that bit of a sparkle in Shido's eyes. It was what he'd been chasing all along - and now that it was there, and Shido actually had something like a sense of humor, and Emishi had nothing to do with it... 

"And now that you've seen why I didn't come back," Shido continued, "it still bothers you." 

"It's not that I ever thought you might come back, really," Emishi mumbled, twiddling his fingers glumly. "It's not a fun place. Why would anyone who came out go back?" 

"The same reasons you went back after I invited you out to dinner. Friendship and responsibility to those who depended on you." 

Shido had summed it up, more or less, and Emishi said nothing in response for a long time. Finally he spoke up, saying what they both knew already. "I don't think, even if I met someone special, I could stay outside. After my clan was destroyed, Volts was... everything. No - you were, really, because you weren't there and I was angry. The old Volts was everything, and the new Volts was almost everything." He breathed a heavy sigh, even though his next words were honest. "But I don't blame you, Shido-kun. Even though I keep wondering why you've given up the life of leadership and freedom to do whatever you like for... for clipping bushes and mowing lawns and dinner parties, I don't blame you. I can see that you're happy now. For some reason." 

Shido's eyes narrowed slightly at the comment. "We'll always have things we don't like to do no matter where we go or how we live," he pointed out. "The most we can do is find a way to live where the good times are worth the hard work." 

"Wasn't Volts like that for you?" 

Shido nodded slightly. "Under Ginji, with all my friends at my side, it was. I can't blame MakubeX for wanting things back as they were, but they can't be." 

Emishi shook his head, getting frustrated. "No, that's not the problem at all. I'm not trying to get you to go back." 

"Then what is the problem?" 

There was no way to say it without sounding foolish, Emishi thought, and although he didn't mind sounding foolish normally, he didn't much care for it when he was being serious. "Heh heh... it's selfish, really," he said with a grin like he was about to go into battle, reaching up to adjust his glasses idly. "You see, Shido-kun, I'll be direct - I always thought of you as sort of a special project of mine. I don't know if you ever realized, but it was you I joked with more than anyone else. Even when you didn't laugh - even when you'd tell me to shut up, or you smacked me, or called me an idiot - I kept coming back." 

"I noticed." Shido's grumble may have been gruff, but still slightly fond. 

"I didn't just want to make you laugh," Emishi explained, the grin faltering somewhat. "I... I wanted to change that sharp look in your eyes to that little glimmer of soft light that told me you were happy - really happy. And sometimes I'd see a little of it, but then they'd go all hard again. It never seemed to stick." 

Shido nodded. "It wasn't that your humor wasn't appreciated. Not that it was, either," he added, deadpan, and Emishi chuckled. "Life in the Infinite Castle was difficult. Was there anyone there at all who was happy?" 

"Not happy, exactly," Emishi agreed. "But even during the hard times, you could look around and see a happiness in some of their eyes that came from within, because they had each other. MakubeX, Kazuki-han and Jubei-han... But you always looked like you were about to stab someone with that stare of yours. ...Until I came to dinner here." 

Shido must have realized what he was getting at, because he frowned slightly, looking at Emishi seriously. "Yes!" Emishi confirmed. "When you were sitting next to Madoka, when she would touch your arm, I saw that look in your eyes - that same look I'd been trying to reach all these years! Do you have any idea...?" 

Apparently lost for words, Shido hesitated, and then sighed heavily. "Emishi..." 

"Don't worry, I don't blame you," Emishi said with a bitter laugh. "We can't help what we respond to, right? You can't please everyone? And... I don't blame her either. She's been too nice to me for me to be angry. And besides, I know I can't... I can't provide you with _everything_ she can," he admitted. "Not materially, and not... otherwise," he finished. He could say any number of ridiculous things to attract any sort of attention at all, but something like this still made him feel awkward. 

Shido regarded him with little expression, as usual, though the implications made him blush faintly in the patches of moonlight through the leaves. "I always wondered that about you, Emishi." 

"So did I!" Emishi threw his hands up in frustration, turning away to walk - not pace, really, that would have been something done out of nervousness, but he couldn't sit still and look into Shido's eyes and admit something like that. "...Kazuki-han and Jubei-han were always around, you know, and at first I thought it was a little weird, but... they made it seem so natural," he admitted, his voice lowering. He stole a glance over his shoulder at Shido, who was still as stoic as ever. "And so, the way I thought of you, for awhile I started thinking, maybe I was... like them..." 

Shido usually could read between the lines with Emishi as he couldn't for most people - and it was a rare thing with Emishi, who everyone else saw as uncomplicated. This time was no exception. "But you aren't." 

"Nope." Emishi folded his hands behind his head, stretching and relaxing into a casual smile. "I like girls too much - they're way cuter than us guys. And no offense, Shido-kun," he added, "but all this time we've spent together? I could have jumped you plenty of times while you were in the bath if I really liked the sight of you naked." 

The hint of a smile turned Shido's lips upward. "You did jump me in the bath once." 

"Oh, that - I was joking," Emishi told him, grinning. "That, and... I wanted to see if you had a rubber duck, or a real one." 

"Why would you care?" 

"I was hungry." 

Shido swatted him on the head, but lightly. "Idiot." 

"I'm sorry!" Emishi exclaimed, feigning hurt. "But... but mmm, rubber duck in sauce..." 

Shido smiled, just a little. It was the most Emishi had ever been able to coax from him - at times, he thought Shido's face was made of stone. 

"Emishi..." he said, finally. "I'm not really sure what I can tell you. It's too bad things can't always work out the way we want them to, but life is sometimes like that." 

Emishi's own smile fell slightly. "Yeah... and there's not really anything we can do to change things. Unless..." He grinned again, suddenly. "I could fight Madoka-han to the death for your happiness." 

Shido just shook his head. "As usual, not funny." 

"Then why are you smiling?" Emishi teased. 

After a moment's pause, he sighed reluctantly. "I know I should just be glad you're happy now - but even knowing what finally made you happy, and knowing I couldn't serve that purpose for you even if I wanted to, I'm still jealous," he mumbled, leaning back against a tree sulkily. "S'okay though - getting it out in the open helped a little..." 

They were silent for a little while after that; that was normal. Shido didn't talk much with words, and Emishi respected it, even if he didn't understand it. Their silence was broken, though, as Shido put two fingers to his mouth and gave a shrill whistle. Emishi looked around, wondering which of his friends he was calling - but this was not a battle, and there were no hordes of animals rushing to join them. Instead, there was just a soft meow and a soft tail brushing against the ankles of his jeans. 

"Ah, Kitty-kun..." Emishi knelt down to run his hands over the familiar fur. He wasn't anywhere near the animal person Shido was, obviously, but there was definitely something about petting little fuzzy animals that made him feel better. 

Shido knew this, and he nodded as he looked down at the two of them. "He wouldn't mind going back to the Infinite Castle with you, you know. He's been complaining that life is too dull around here." 

"Hmm, really?" Emishi turned his face up to look at Shido again, instead of the cat. "Can't say as I blame him..." 

Shido nodded again. "I have to stay for the same reasons you have to go back, Emishi. But I won't ask the same of my friends. So if you'd like to escort each other..." 

"I told you I wasn't like that, Shido!" Emishi grinned as he looked back down at the cat, who rubbed his face against Emishi's knees. He understood. Shido was going to stay with Madoka, and that was just how it was going to be. He could send a little something of himself along with Emishi, though. "...Thanks." 

"Don't thank me - he's the one who wanted to go." Undoubtedly there would have been someone else among Shido's friends who wanted to, Emishi thought, if the cat hadn't. "Just one thing..." Shido added. 

"Yeah?" 

"Give him a real name instead of calling him 'Kitty-kun'." 

Emishi laughed a little, stroking the cat's tail. "It's a deal. But hey, he's been with you for awhile - doesn't he already have a name?" 

"Not one you could pronounce." Shido knelt down as well, and scratched behind the cat's ears fondly. "I bet you can think of something that'll please both of you." 

"How about Fluffy?" Emishi's words were soon followed by a quiet yelp as the cat bit his finger. "...Stripey?" Shido just chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Aha, I've got it!" Emishi exclaimed. "Rover!" 

Shido's eyes narrowed for a moment, then widened slightly. "...You and this cat are a good match, Emishi. He actually kind of _likes_ that idea." 

"Oooh, we'll get on wonderfully, then - won't we, Rover?" He gave the cat a cheesy grin, which softened as he looked back to Shido. "...Though maybe not so well without an interpreter. I'm not exactly fluent in cat." 

"I think you'll get by. And if not, you know where to find me." Shido's hand fell lightly on Emishi's shoulder. "Anytime you want, Emishi. I wouldn't turn away any of my friends." 

"Even the ones with not so much hair, eh?" Emishi teased. "Oh wait..." He tossed his head, letting his long hair bounce. "So that's why you tolerated me." 

Shido snorted. "See," Emishi continued, "and now you sound like a horse! This ponytail must've made you feel right at home, huh?" 

"You should get on back to the Infinite Castle before I'm tempted to trample you," Shido said, standing up. "Unless you want dessert?" 

"What the heck, Shido-kun," Emishi complained as he accepted Shido's offered hand. "You get a sense of humor when I'm not here to coach you? That's no fair." 

Instead of the sarcastic reply Emishi expected, Shido met his eyes for a moment. "I guess I needed jokes. Deep down." 

Neither of them was very good at the serious, sentimental stuff - Shido was too introverted and Emishi had a tendancy to brush everything off with a joke. After Emishi's small smile of acknowledgement, all he could think of to say as they moved towards the house was a reminder that Shido had mentioned dessert, and Shido seemed content to answer him. 

-----------

"He still needs you," MakubeX said later, not looking up from the computer screen where he was inputting data faster than Emishi could read it. Despite the speed at which he was typing, Emishi knew the boy was listening - his mind was capable of handling at least a handful of difficult problems at once. "Just like you need him." 

Emishi nodded, patting the cat who rested beside him as they sat in MakubeX's control room. "I still dunno, though. If he wants to be a leashed animal, or yoked, or whatever, then that's his choice. I believe him when he says he's where he wants to be. But it's like, you know what happens to animals when they're domesticated. They get all content with doing nothing, when once they were wild, ready for adventure - like me and Rover here." 

MakubeX raised an eyebrow a little at the cat's name, but didn't comment further. "You've answered your own concern, Emishi. You do realize that... Rover... isn't really a wild cat - he's a domestic cat who's been around wild animals and without a keeper for a long time. Now he may have decided to stay with you, but that was his decision, just as Shido's was to stay with Madoka. And Rover's not going to forget everything he learned through the rest of his life just because you give him food and shelter and friendship. As long as you give him the freedom to go out and associate with other cats that have lived the same kind of life he has, he'll stay in touch with that side of himself." 

"Of course I will..." Emishi knew there was some sort of parable in there, but it took him a second to wade through all the metaphor. When he figured it out, he smiled. "And I'll visit Shido a lot too - can't let him lose touch with the wild side either." 

MakubeX nodded and smiled as well, though still not looking up from the monitor. "I know you will. And if you're hoping to keep him from ever being completely domesticated, I really can't think of any better person than you." 

"Heh, thanks! ...I think. You know what they say, jokers are wild!" He scratched his head, feigning thought. "...But hey, lay off - at least I haven't chewed through any of your computer cords lately." 

"I do appreciate that." 

Rover was happy to be back in the Infinite Castle, it seemed. Just as MakubeX had said, he'd been going out to prowl with the alley cats every night, even if he did return and accept the petting and innocent playing that Emishi offered. He caught his own food when he felt like it, and yowled his annoyance at things as loudly as any other stray. 

Emishi could hardly go and visit Shido every night, but he'd make the effort to visit on a pretty regular basis - at least every couple weeks. Which, he noted with amusement upon glancing at a calendar, meant he'd be showing up at the full moon. Perfect for a couple of wild beasts to do a little howling... or for one to howl, and the other to smack him. As long as it meant Shido was the same old Shido, Emishi could take it. 


End file.
